Before making art for Flash games, I spent 9 years working on PlayStation titles in the console games industry. When I first started in games it was fun—teams were small and games were done in 12 months. Usually you had a lot of control over how your levels looked. When I left the games industry, games were 3-year projects, with teams of 50, you were doing collision models for 6 months.
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So where does someone now considered an industry “veteran” go when they fancy a break from “games”? It wasn’t that I’d stopped enjoying working on games, more that I had a sudden overwhelming urge to do something “worthy” with what I’d learned over the last 16 years. Not that relaxation and entertainment isn’t worthwhile, but surely there must be something else?
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One of the biggest checks in reality I had did not come to me in college, it did not come to me when I had to start creating wonderful artwork with strict deadlines and it did not come to me when I had my first few interviews, no, it came to me when I did my first art test. In this Art Tests in Depth series on Notes on Game Dev, I’ll start with an introduction to the basics and then get more in depth with my test experiences.

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I consider myself both an artist and a writer. Sometimes I’ll say I’m a writer first and an artist second; sometimes it’s the other way around. My career is art and my full-time hobby is writing.

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Why did Rome fall?
What do women want?
What really happened to Amelia Earhart?
How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?
Are games art?

These are questions that will be asked and answered til the end of time. Every answer will have some merit. I have been asked to provide my own thoughts on the last question. Here goes…

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Art outsourcing is a highly debated topic in the game industry. For one of our projects, we outsourced these tiny cut-scenes to an artist in Canada (we’re based in Australia). We got benefits from the arrangement, but also faced challenges that we didn’t predict.
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I started in the Animation industry as a Modeling/Texture Artist at a small Studio in Chicago almost 11 years ago working on a cartoony kids’ video series Veggie Tales. During my 3 years there I not only modeled characters, props and sets, but also got involved in concept design. I then moved to Atlanta where I was hired as a Generalist at Fathom Studios (an even smaller studio of 15 people), to work on the still yet unreleased animated film Delgo.

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Before I entered the career field of texture artist, I went and did 3 years on a BA course in ‘computer game art’. Ultimately it isn’t essential in getting a job as a texture artist but it can be a good motivation to learn the basics of 3D applications and how to approach your work. The biggest problem is that the teachings can be based on methods and technology that is a few years behind, while I can only say that about the course I attended, I do still often hear that many other similar courses still share that very same problem today.
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In 1989, the silicon baby started growing into a monster. The consumer was gobbling up hardware and software faster than companies could churn them out. Like every company in the industry, developers were desperate to find good people; good talented people. If you had any art experience, digital experience or even if you’ve ever been in the same room with a computer, you were as good as hired. Conversely, employers began to bend over backwards to keep good people; stock options, training, bonuses, raises…

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GameCareerGuide.com, Gamasutra’s game education sister site, put out a stellar article from Robert Chang of iWin about what’s involved in being an Art Director. Robert started off doing textures and concept art for various companies, and soon became an art director, but later left game industry in 2001 to pursue his own projects. With years of experience and having returned to game industry as a studio art director at a game development and publishing house, Robert has great advice for any game artists aspiring to advance their careers.

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